Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

Though it may lack a few of the high-end extras offered by more expensive models, the Corsair Strafe Mechnical Gaming Keyboard is well made, customizable, and affordable.

Oct. 30, 2015Matthew Buzzi

Corsair has repeatedly impressed with its line of gaming keyboards, including the Editors' Choice K95 RGB. Its lower-priced model, the Strafe Mechanical Gaming Keyboard ($109.99), maintains the same solid dependability, high performance, and individual key customization enthusiast gamers crave. The Strafe lacks a few of the premium features of its more expensive stablemates, such as lighting color options and dedicated macro keys, to keep its price down, but it's still a very solid, affordable gaming keyboard.

Design and Features

Corsair has fashioned a sleek, attractive design for its line of gaming keyboards, and the Strafe is no exception. It's not made of aluminum like the K95 RGB and the Corsair K70 RGB, but the plastic exterior still looks and feels high-quality. The keyboard's face is coated in a textured, black plastic, with a striking bed of smooth red underneath the keys.

Each key is fashioned from smooth, contoured plastic, with the exception of the space bar, which is textured, cross-hatched steel. The Strafe is of standard size and weight, at 1.57 by 6.69 by 17.63 inches (HWD) and 2.9 pounds. You can take in on the road in a backpack or larger bag, but I wouldn't exactly call it portable. Unlike the other two Corsair keyboards, the Strafe does not include a wrist rest, detachable or otherwise.

The 104 keys have Cherry MX Red mechanical switches—the same as those used in the Corsair K95 RGB—with 100-percent anti-ghosting and full-key rollover to prevent lag and input jamming. The Cherry MX Red switches offer a smooth, responsive feel without the extra audible click provided by the Cherry MX Blue variant. Every key is individually backlit, though the only color option is red, which matches nicely with the red background beneath the keys.

Through Corsair's Utility Engine software, you can create any lighting pattern you'd like, or choose from six presets. These include a ripple out from each key you press, a wave that dashes back and forth across the keys horizontally, a scattered rain of lights from top to bottom, and several other patterns. You can create for your own effects with a bit of trial and error as you learn the software, but the included presets are very appealing.

Matthew Buzzi is a junior analyst on the Hardware team at PCMag. Matthew graduated from Iona College with a degree in Mass Communications/Journalism. He interned for a college semester at Kotaku, writing about gaming. He has written about technology and video game news, as well as hardware and gaming reviews. In his free time, he likes to go out with friends, watch and discuss sports, play video games, read too much Twitter, and obsessively manage any fantasy sports leagues he's involved in. More »